Introduction
Bereavement is explained as the state of living with the thoughts of losing a loved person to death. Nonetheless, when a bereaved individual becomes too affected to deal with the loss of a loved one, the intervention of a clinical social worker is often required. Significantly, due to the uniqueness of people, social workers ensure to assess the extent of grief in consideration of the existing relationship with the dead person and the bereaved individual’s personality. In addition, grieving children are handled differently according to their age groups and gender. Therefore, in this case, evidence-based practice will be used to assess a bereaved mother and compare and contrast assessment of children in different age groups and the best treatment procedure for an entire family.
Part 1
Applying evidence-based assessment on the bereaved mother and partner requires thorough evaluation in both psychosocial and risk assessment procedures. In fact, psychological assessment entails a test of the bereaved mother’s emotional and mental health in consideration of her financial, familial, cultural, and social circumstances (Drisko & Grady, 2012). In essence, assessing all the contributing factors to an unhealthy grief helps deter future consequences. For instance, determining financial stress is essential because the bereaved might suffer due to lack of funds to attend to the household needs. In addition, due to tension between the immediate family and the bereaved, there might be an environmental factor leading to a traumatized grief period. On the other hand, cultural issues help a health care provider to determine the bereaved partner’s beliefs on the issues of personal control over death and life. Similarly, social circumstances are essential in determining the affected person’s isolation, and alienation levels, as community’s support helps ease the burden of mortality. Therefore, the risk assessment in evidence-based practice of a grieving partner includes a full evaluation of whether the bereaved partner will exhibit characteristics of experiencing other adverse outcomes in the future or present. In essence, an adverse long-term outcome is depicted through a prolonged mourning, anxiety disorders, poor physical health, and depression.
Part 2
Both parents and children exhibit their pain differently. In fact, applying evidence-based assessment requires evaluating more on how a child mourns than when he/she is grieving. Significantly, several approaches may be used during an evaluation, especially due to age group and gender (Drisko & Grady, 2012). In this case, assessing a nine-year-old child would entail a question-answer session since, at such an age, many issues concerning death require the health care provider’s ability to answer willingly and correctly. Notably, at nine years, there is a lot of curiosity on matters of death to the extent of personifying such an occurrence. Therefore, answering all the questions clarifies the thinking aspect of the affected kid. Nonetheless, assessing both 9 and 14-year-old children show some similarity in that a social worker has to evaluate the stage at which each adolescent has reached in the grieving process (Drisko & Grady, 2012). Essentially, a healthy grieving process predicates that a bereaved child will comfortably cope with adjustment problems in future.
Part 3
On this occasion, a clinical social worker can propose two treatment methods for this family to help them through the grief period. The first approach is through Psychotherapeutic intervention. On this platform, a mental health professional uses his or her knowledge to assist the bereaved in surpassing pain through a verbal process. In fact, this is one of the most efficient methods of beginning treatment because the approach ensures that future implications are evaluated and treated. Importantly, it is through these therapy sessions that matters of death are explained and addressed honestly, thus helping children learn how to deal with the loss (Drisko & Grady, 2012). Later, the family can be put through a mutual support treatment program. Significantly, the platform would expose the family to other self-help groups where people share the same bereavement predicament, which unites them to offer mutual aid to each other. Significantly, shared support is crucial for the bereaved partner because through this process, the affected individual learns how to adapt to self-change and incorporate the merits and demerits of their lost relationship.
Indeed, bereavement is not a simple process, but with the help of a clinical social worker, the burden of grieving is lightened through proper assessment and treatment procedures. Concisely, the grief of a bereaved partner is assessed by analyzing the mental and emotional health. Consequently, determining both a nine a 14-year-old differs in that the latter requires a realistic approach while the former is evaluated on the clarity the bereaved wants to know about death. Nonetheless, assessing both children is similar because, during evaluation, each child’s grieving period is estimated to help determine the kid’s ability to adjust to future problems. In essence, treating grief issues require attending both psychotherapeutic and mutual support self-help groups.
References
Drisko, J. W., & Grady, M. D. (2012). Evidence-based practice in clinical social work. New
York: Springer.